Myrchase
by Sylvia.el
Summary: Pronounced: Mer-cha-see A continuance of the Harry Potter Series with a twist... A young girl with amazing power who's been hiding from the Ministry for years, comes back into the open. Four teens want to know about her past, but then one event changes all their lives forever..
1. Professors

**Professors:**

Stefan Tanzirald ~ Headmaster

Elaine Vitravis (Gryffindor) ~ Transfiguration

Ignatius Caswett ~ Potions

Skylar Inkstarr (Hufflepuff) ~ Charms

Reubus Hagrid ~ Magical Creatures

Damon Hawk (Slytherin) ~ Defense Against the Dark Arts

Neville Longbottom ~ Hebology

Ghost Binns ~ History of Magic

Artemis Saffron (Ravenclaw) ~ Legilimency

Firenze ~ Astronomy

Pervu Zanzabarr ~ Arithmancy

Sterling Nitremn ~ Chemical/Biological Magic


	2. Prologue

One in front. One behind. Two on the right. Spells flying everywhere. Wall coming up. Hopefully the boxes are there. The thoughts flew through Sylvia's mind as she pounded through the alleyways of Triventus. Her heart raced and adrenaline course through her veins. A brick wall rose up in front of her. It was 15 feet high, at least, as she had no way of levitating herself over magically. She looked around wildly for the much-needed boxes. None. Cursing mentally and pushing a load of memories into the back of her mind, she spun to the left. Right, Left, Right, Straight, Right. She raced through the intersections and arrived on the other side of the wall. Her legs were starting to fell like jelly, but she continued on and on. She could hear the Aurors getting closer. She tried to push harder, her lungs sending shocks of pain through her chest with each breath. Her whole body covered with sweat. Her hair strewn out behind her in tangles and matted with dirt. And then a man jumped out in front of her. She skidded to a stop and turned around. Five more panting adults had come up. She backed up, eyes wide, breathing hard. Trapped! Six wands were pointed at her. A brown-haired man reached for her. A chance! She darted off. Footstep echoes mingled with those of curses. She nearly thought she'd make it to the street, a magic-safety zone, when two hands grabbed her ankles. She fell with a muffled cry, her arms stretched out to catch herself. She tossed and kicked to no avail. She gave soft grunts and growls of frustration. Finally, completely exhausted, she lay still, glaring daggers at the six faces above her.

"Feisty little thing, aren't you?" An Indian-looking man said. Sylvia's eyes flashed to his face and then returned to watching everyone.

"If it isn't a little orphan." A blonde man with blue eyes snickered.

Okay, definitely not Aurors. Sylvia thought. Just Ministry bounty hunters.

A woman waved her wand over Sylvia, calling out an identification spell. Sylvia gritted her teeth and tried to muster up a shield. She could feel the warm energy of the magic insider of herself and felt it expand into an orb protecting her. Too late.

"Sylvia Estelle Lioness. Ha! And we'd nearly given you up for dead." The cold voice seemed to shriek at her with hideous laughter.

Sylvia remembered the obituary in the _Sorcerer_. I'd been on April 24th, 2010; on a Friday. It'd just said that she was believed to be dead as no trace had been found of her. The Ministry was still looking for the proof. Only then had she felt safe to go out in public. And since that time, a little over 5 years ago, life hadn't been so bad. Now, of course, it'd all come crashing down and she pushed the memory of that April 24th along with all the others into the back of her mind. She instead turned to cursing her invalid of a shield and slowness at putting it up. And now, with 6 hunters guarding her, she'd have no way to escape. _Damn it!_


	3. Chapter One

Mr. and Mrs. Frost were both magical folk. They both worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Secrecy, and since they worked in this department, their two sons Oliver and Edward got to suffer the consequences. Like now.

'Edward! Oliver!' Mrs. Frost called up the stairs of the 100% Muggle house. Mrs. Frost, or Agatha Kerfera Frost, was a thin woman of average height with blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was sweet and friendly and very persuasive when she wanted to be. She was currently standing at the bottom of the staircase when her twin boys can racing down. They shared the tall, muscular, lanky bodies of the father, Victor Barnabus Frost, but other than that they have very little in common and few would actually consider them twins. Oliver had bright red hair and clear grey eyes. Edward, on the other hand, was an odd ball. His right eye was green, and the left was blue giving him either a spooky or lopsided look depending on the viewer. His short, spiked, brown hair seemed to emphasize the fact.

As the boys reached the bottom of the staircase, their father walked up, dressed in running clothes.

'We're going for a walk!' Mrs. Frost beamed at the boys. A short, knowing glance transferred between the two boys and then they adopted the ways of Muggle boys. Very few could see through the Frost family's façade. After years and years of practice, no one in the town, or even the county thought twice about the Frosts being normal or not. They most certainly were, and that was that. Of course they weren't, and the two brothers, though certainly comfortable with their advantage in Muggle knowledge, felt confined.

'One more month.' Oliver said to Edward one night. ' One more month and we get our supplies in Diagon Alley. Than another month and we're free. Hogwarts starts again.'

'Can't wait.' Edward said longingly.

Scorpius was irritated. No enrage. Even more than enraged. Here he was at an adoption center, of all places, with his father, Draco Malfoy, looking for some girl. The witch dealing with them was a short Chinese woman and the frown already etched on his face deepened each time she spoke and gave her false smile. He could tell she was irritating his father too, who finally snapped at her.

'This girl! I want to see this girl!' His father shoved a picture in the woman's face. A flood of panic and fear rushed to the woman's face. She hesitated, but then finally succumbed to his father's murderous glare. She shrank visibly as she led them up five flights of emotional staircases to an isolated room. Scorpius half expected a werewolf or dragon to be hidden up there.

'She is smart and fast. Everyone has been scared by her.' The fear show clearly in the woman's eyes, but his father gave her a very hard, disproving stare and she scuttled up to the door to unlock the 5 manual locks on the door.

'Why not use magic?' Scorpius' father questioned.

'She has undone every spell and curse and hex we've put on it.' The woman replied.

Her answer left Scorpius a bit uneasy. Maybe this girl was a whole lot more dangerous that his father thought.

Too late. The woman had opened the door and it swung open to reveal… an empty room. The woman backed off, and Scorpius' father stepped forward to see the room. He was one step inside, and the Chinese lady opened her mouth to say something. The words were about to come out when chaos broke out. A wild creature had flung itself on his father and was fighting hard. His father was nearly on his knees, in a headlock, when Scorpius drew his wand.

'Let him go!' Scorpius said in the bravest voice he could muster. Two feral eyes looked at his pale face, aristocratic clothes, pale grey eyes, and then at the top of his wand, which was trembling slightly. A short barring of teeth, and she dropped his father and backed up a few steps.

'Are you hurt, Mr. Malfoy?' the Chinese woman seemed to hope so.

'No.' He said and rose. The woman seemed disappointed and Scorpius felt like hexing her.

'Her name is Sylvia Estelle Lioness?" His father brushed off his coat casually.

'Yes, sir.'

'Good. Carry through with the transaction.' He told her

'Sorry?!'

'You heard me.' He snapped, 'Now leave us!'

She left, looking as bewildered as Scorpius felt.

'What are you doing, father? She just attacked you!'

His father didn't answer, but instead drew his wand.

'Hello, Sylvia.'

A barring of teeth and a low growl of warning. _She's like an animal._ Scorpius thought. Her long brown hair was extremely wavy and dirty like it hadn't been washed in months. Her skin, too, was a dark grey from the grime that had collected on her arms and face, yet hadn't been washed off. Her clothes weren't as bad as her skin and hair. They had dirt stains a rips at the knees, but that was all. Worst of it all were her eyes. The golden-green color was like molten lava. They were now narrowed in a feral, hateful way. They flickered between himself and his father—alert, scared, and despising like nothing Scorpius had ever seen.

'Father. What are you doing?' Scorpius repeated his question.

'Adopting her, of course.' His father seemed irritated that he hadn't figured it out yet.

'Why?''

His father thrust a front page article of the Sorcerer in his hands. The date read February 21st, 2017. The picture showed a young girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, giving a small smile at the camera. Scorpius' eyes moved off the unfamiliar girl's picture down to the article.

MURDERED WITCH'S TALENTED DAUGHTER DISSAPPEARS

The beautiful witch Primrose Traversina Lioness was murdered today in Gurthry Alley, not far from a well known Advanced Apothecary shop. Primrose, the wife of experimentalist Kyle Sterling Lioness was flown to the hospital, and it was confirmed she died form the Killing curse while pregnant with a new baby boy. Her death seems to have come about when a wizard grabber young daughter and put a knife to young "Stella" Lioness's throat. However, the attacker, and no one else for that matter, was prepared for the advanced mental magic of this young witch!

"She concentrated really hard—closed her eyes and tense up and then this huge burst of light from her body burst out." One spectator remembers.

The spell knocked the assailant flat and Stella then ran back to her mother, who had her wand out for defense. A cool voice then echoed through the alley, giving the orders to kill the mother and get the child. Three men lurched into action to follow these orders, and Primrose Lioness was killed along with her husband, who had been taken by surprise while exiting the Apothecary. Stella, or Sylvia Estelle Lioness, ran from her parents' attackers when they fell, and is being searched for.

The Minister of Magic, George Dunwit assures the public that he has his best Aurors on the job to find the murderers and the young girl. Meanwhile, the public does not need to worry. If you see this young girl, please contact the Ministry immediately.

~Richella Senvi

The article ended and Scorpius handed it back to his father, staring at the teenage girl standing in front of him and gapping at the difference between the picture in the article and the modern day girl. Over seven years had passed since the date of the article, but the change still amazed him.

'If she was able to do that magic then, imagine what she could do now. She's hidden from the ministry for more than 7 ½ years!' His father reveled, then added to rationalize, "Astoria wants a daughter, anyway.'

'Oh.' Scorpius was already imagining the criticism about his own magic that would result if this untrained girl were to do better at school than him self. Especially if his father was going to invest time and effort into making her the child he always wanted.

The young girl seemed to realize his father's intentions as well, for she spat at them vehemently, 'I'm not a puppet!' And she would prove just how true that was.

Edward and Oliver Frost were in their glory. They were currently enjoying a box of Bott's Every Flavor Beans(Strawberry flavor, luckily) while goggling at the MonarchFlyer 5000. What's more, they'd be staying at Samuel Kavor's house until school because of some Ministry work their parents had to do. An extra month of living in magical surroundings; they were thrilled about the change.

'Boys! It's time to go!' Agatha Frost called to them.

'Coming.' They said sadly, and turned from the beautiful sight of the 5000 broom.

'Fastest and sleekest yet.' A familiar, not so pleasant voice read aloud.

'They say that every year.' A girl's voice responded.

Both Oliver and Edward turned to see who Scorpius Malfoy was talking to, but a crowd kept her from they're view.

'Oliver! Edward!' Mrs. Frost reminded them crossly about what they were suppose to be doing (not staring at the crowd).

'Alright! Alright!' And they left, their curiosity heavy on their minds.


	4. Chapter Two

The Malfoy Mansion was much like the Malfoys themselves: elegant and unfeeling. It had probably cost millions of Galleons, Sylvia hypothesized as she took in the deserted garden, ominous gates, and looming house. A dark forest grew right up to the edge of the garden, daring nerves of steel to set foot inside its border. The moment they entered the massive front doors, a small house-elf was there waiting, ushering them in.

'Take Sylvia up to her room, Bailey.'

"Yes, master.' Bailey said, and ushered for Sylvia to follow. Sylvia followed, glancing at the second level rooms, as she walked up the spiral staircase with her few possessions in a satchel slung over her body. Scorpius followed behind, his room being on the second level. On the third level, Sylvia was led to a guest room at the end of the long hall. Bailey opened the door magically, and ushered Sylvia into the room with many 'masters.'

'Thank you.' Sylvia said, making the elf turn a soft pink at the cheeks before making a hasty escape.

Conquest had flown up to the window of the bedroom, and Sylvia opened it.

'Don't make a mess.' She told him. He gave an indignant hoot and went to sleep on a post at the foot of the bed. The room was very nice. It didn't have any color to it, but held a desk and chair in front of the window, a comfortable bed, an attached walk-in closet, and an attached bathroom. Sylvia hung her satchel over the back of the chair and looked quickly at everything. She was about to open her satchel, when a knock made her turn.

Astoria Malfoy walked in. She was a pale, sharp-faced woman with blonde hair, much like her husband and son. She took in Sylvia's appearance with a sweeping glance and introduced herself quickly. Her voice was much softer and sweeter than her looks implied. Sylvia could tell that the voice could become very sharp and cold if needed, though.

'Dinner will be ready at 6.00pm sharp.' Astoria Malfoy said as a last note. Sylvia opened her satchel, pulled out a few boxes of powders. One read, " Mending Kit for Clothes Down to Threads!" and the other declared, "MagiClean! Sparkling clean clothes in minutes!"

Sylvia went to the bathroom, and turned the shower on. She went to her satchel and frowned. No shampoo or soap. She shrugged mentally. Returning to the bathroom, she undressed, put her clothes in the bathtub, threw a handful of both powders on top and took a shower. It was the first time she's washed her body in 3 months and 6 days. It was the first time she'd taken a shower in a year, 2 months, and 25 days.

At six, she walked down the stairs to the dinning room with brushed hair, mended and cleaned clothes, clean fingernails, and clean skin. Astoria's eyes showed approval, Draco seemed surprised, and Scorpius looked like his mouth was about to drop open. She was nearly unrecognizable compared to the dirty girl who had been in the orphanage. The only thing precisely the same, was her eyes, which still proclaimed her alertness, and complete distrust in everything.

'Good Evening.' Draco Malfoy said politely.

'Evening.' She replied, and took her seat next to Scorpius.

'You'll be in level 4 this year. Father arranged it all with the Ministry and Hogwarts. 'Scorpius and Sylvia were walking towards Ollivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley. Scorpius was dressed in a white, button-up flannel shirt tucked into black jeans. His hair was, as usual, stiffly gelled into place. Sylvia's hair was loose and natural. She was dressed tidily in dark blue jeans and a long-sleeve dark purple crew-neck. Her dark green satchel was slung across her body and already held her books and robes for the school year. A faint bell rang out as they entered the wand shop. A young man, about age 25 or so, stood behind the counter. He looked up at the newcomers.

'Hello.' He greeted them, ' I'll get grandfather.' He disapparated, and then a minute later, apparated back behind the counter, this time with a very sharp-looking old man. He spoke at a moderate speed, but with a intellectual accent to his words, making it seem like everything his said had many thoughts connected to it, and he was searching through it all.

'Scorpius Malfoy.' The man said, glancing at Scorpius, 'Elm, vampire fang, 10inches, quite temperamental, I recall.'

Scorpius nodded.

'Powerful wand none the less… well? Who is this? I haven't seen you before, young lady.' He paused, ' Oh, you're the Ms. Lioness they've just found. Finally came for a wand. An amazing magical ability you had… wand arm, please.'

Ollivander took measurement, and then took ten wands down from a perfectly organized library of wands.

'Yes, well, try this one. Holly. Dragon heartstring, unicorn tail. 11 inches. Good, strong built wand.'

That wand didn't work. The next wand came. 'Oak. Unicorn horn, werewolf hair, 9 inches. Temperamental -Birch. Dragon Scales. 10 inches. Strong wand -'

The trial and error went on for a half hour. Scorpius looked like he would fall asleep. Ollivander finally came our slowly with a black, leather box. Slowly he said, 'This wand is my last experimental wand. I had two. They were wands from my young years a long time ago. Put a large overdose of magical ingredients in them, I did. This one is Willow, dragon scales, vampire fang, werewolf hair, unicorn horn, Ferefox fur, goblin nails, house-elf skin, and the feather of a winged being a long while ago. 13 inches. Very powerful and the only one left in the world, besides its twin.' Ollivander pulled the wand out of its green velvet cushion and handed it to Sylvia delicately. Scorpius had come back to attention. A wave of warmth filled Sylvia. Like a draught of butterbeer in the dead winter. Like being reunited with a long-lost friend thought to be gone forever. And though no one saw it, the edges of her lips curled up in a small smile as the rush of pure partnership and true friendship flooded through her blood.

'It was to be predicted that you'd have great magical abilities. To be predicted.' Ollivander muttered. Sylvia tucked her wand into the edge of her satchel, paid him, and she and Scorpius left. They were walking towards the Apothecary shop, and Sylvia was fighting a wave of memories in her mind. Then, suddenly, Scorpius flinched instinctively as a very scarred Great Gray owl dived down, and pecked at Sylvia's shoulder irritably.

'Hello 'Quest.' She greeted him, and took the day's _The Sorcerer _from his talons. She glanced at the front page, which featured her adoption. She scanned through it quickly and then disintegrated it magically with her hands, forgetting she had a wand now.

'Is that yours?' Scorpius asked, revived from his short fright of being shredded by owl talons.

'Conquest? Yes.'

'I didn't know you had an owl.'

'There are a lot of things you don't know about me.' Was the ominous reply.

'No?' Sylvia didn't respond.

'What did you do to the paper?' He tried another question.

'Disintegrated it.'

'How?'

'Magically.'

'Can you show me?'

'No.'

'Why not?' Some-what demanding.

'I don't want to.' Coldly. He was very displeased with the answer, but didn't protest.

They got their materials from the Apothecary quickly and then, since they had time to spare, they headed to the local broomstick shop, Broomstick Emporium. The store was featuring the new MonarchFlyer 5000, a sleek black-handled, golden-bristled broom.

'The fastest and sleekest yet.' Scorpius read aloud.

'They say that every year.' Sylvia responded, taking in all the features of the broom, figuring out the magical formulas that were probably used on it.

'Did you come here often?' Scorpius asked curiously, meaning Diagon Alley.

'Yes.'

'What for?' She didn't deem a reply necessary. Sure enough, Scorpius' attention soon drifted back to the broom, and inevitably, Quidditch.

'I think I'll get father to buy me the broom.' He informed her, 'After all, I am Slytherin Seeker.' This last bit rather arrogantly.

'Who are the other seekers?'

'I don't remember, but they were all really bad. Ravenclaw should've lost points they're Seeker was so terrible.'

After a fortnight of Scorpius' criticisms, Sylvia had realized that Scorpius made very biased opinions and that very often they were extremely exaggerated and barely trust-worthy.

They finally pushed through the crowd to see the broom up close, and a floating sign reading DO NOT TOUCH hovered over the broomstick. Scorpius ignored the sign, and reached out his hand to stroke the shiny handle.

'Don't touch!' Sylvia hit his hand away, 'Can't you see the sign? There's a spell on it, you idiot!'

'Oh.' Scorpius had no good retort and his pale cheeks darkened a shade with humility.

'Hey! There's Trace and Goyle. We can go see them.' They left the shop, to find that Trace and Goyle where, in fact, not there. Sylvia rolled her eyes to the sky. What an excuse. Luckily, Draco Malfoy arrived before Scorpius could be embarrassed any more. He led them off towards a big stately building of the Ministry of Magic. Apparently, they had to clear a few things up in order for Sylvia to be accepted at Hogwarts as a 4th year.

First, she had to get tested in various areas to make sure she was 4th-year material. She was asked to make potions, cast spells, and transfigure objects, and perform defensive spells, all of which she passed with extremely high grades. Her moderator had given up trying to hear the spells Sylvia was muttering as she preformed her spells. Her words, spoken in a whisper, seemed to be the best way for her to communicate between her wand, and the moderator decided it wasn't worth it to make Sylvia to speak louder.

'Silence is a great fighting tactic.' The moderator commented, "But I don't see why you would know it this soon, especially if you've never been to school.'

Sylvia didn't respond, and simply took her grades and followed the Malfoys out of the building.

'You have everything, yes?" Astoria Malfoy asked.

'Yes, mother.' Scorpius responded. Sylvia didn't respond, she was staring at a building, reliving very harsh memories.

'Sylvia?!' Astoria called, breaking though to her, at last.

'Yes, I'm ready.' She shook her head slightly, as if returning from a daze and Astoria and Draco apparated both Scorpius and Sylvia to an area just outside of the Hogwarts grounds.

They walked a good ways before arriving in from of a gigantic castle at least 15 stories high, not including the watchtowers. In front of the majestic school building, was a huge lake that shone beautifully in the sunlight, but was dark and ominous not far below the surface. They walked up gigantic steps to the huge black metal front doors and Draco used a heavy knocker the size of a plate to knock on the door. They could hear the sound echoing inside. A minute later, a man with short blonde hair, and dark blue eyes opened the door. He ushered them into the longest hallway Sylvia had ever seen. Portraits turned their heads to stare at them, and stairs at the end of the hall were constantly moving to new positions. A young house-elf scurried down another hallway, branching off from the main one, and a few adults passed, looking very busy.

'Hello Scorpius.' He nodded at the boy, and then reached out to shake hands with Sylvia, 'Ms. Lioness, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Professor Stefan Tanzirald, the Headmaster of Hogwarts.' Sylvia glanced at the hand coolly, looking for any type of trap, simply from habit, before shaking. If Tanzirald noticed the skepticism, he didn't show it, and led them all up to his very nice office which contained a huge library, portraits of all the former Headmasters, and stairs leading up to what Sylvia assumed to be his own private sleeping quarters.

'Now. I understand you are to be a 4th year?'

Sylvia pulled out her testing papers and handed them to him. He glanced at them, showed a small sign of surprise, and then put the pages down.

'Right then, so how old are you?'

'Fourteen.'

'Good.'

He reached to the top of one of the bookshelves and pulled out a very old, tattered hat.

'This hat is the Sorting Hat. I'll put it on your head, and then it will tell me what House you should be put in. Houses, are much like teams here at Hogwarts. You are sorted, and then your House will gain or lose points as a whole, and you will learn your primary courses, eat, and sleep with your House. Slytherins are often known to be powerful wizards and witches, who tend to pursue their goals despite all consequences. Ravenclaws are very often classified as the most intelligent; Gryffindors tend to be noble hearted and brave, and the rest who are not able to be sorted in one of these most often go to Hufflepuff. Now, then. If you'll sit down here—' He gestured to a cushioned seat. 'We will allow the Hat to sort you out.'

The hat's brim fell to just below her eyes and then, as if it had suddenly woken up, it began speaking quietly to her.

'Ahh. You're being sorted early. Oh, late comer. I see. Well then, what House to be in… that is the question. Loads of information, intelligence, reasoning. And yet the powerfulness, but you don't care much for power, do you? It's just there. And the bravery is strong as well. Yes… from that wretched past.'

Sylvia hoped the others couldn't hear what the hat was saying. Her past was for her information only, and she didn't need the memories coming back up, nor for _them_ to know about them.

'Oh no, don't worry. They can't hear.' The hat reassured her, ' Perhaps you should be Hufflepuff? A mixture of all… no, that wouldn't work well for you. Ah well then, ought to be… Gryffindor!' and thus she was sorted. And, of course, Scorpius had a lot to say about her sorting.

'It's too bad you didn't get put into Slytherin. I would've asked to be done again, really. I guess it's better than Hufflepuff. I would've died. You're the first to be put in something other than Slytherin. I feel so sorry for you. The Potters and Weasleys are horrible; I wonder if you'll be able to even live in the same house as them. Especially James Potter. He thinks he's so great and struts around like he's this king, where really he has horrible magical skills and did a mortifying job at Beater last year for Gryffindor. It was rather unfair that they won. I think Professor Vitravis was leaning towards them, you know? It was terrible unfair, but Professor Tanzirald….' Scorpius continued on and on in his cold, scornful voice making Sylvia very glad she had not been put in Slytherin. She was also very interested in meeting the Potters and Weasleys that Scorpius talked down on so much, because when the Malfoys talked down on something, that thing very often turned out to be a very good thing.'Here dear! Don't forget your sweets!' Astoria stuffed a bag of candies and things into Scorpius' arms. Sylvia nearly rolled her eyes, and began to climb the stairs onto the Hogwarts Express.


	5. Chapter Three

'Love you Scorpius! Write soon!' Astoria hugged him and kissed him before letting him get on the train. She looked around for Sylvia, too, but Sylvia had already gotten on the train and disappeared from sight.

The instant she got on the train, a wave of pressure seemed to push on her body. It was like a wall was encasing her, and pushing on her. She had never been claustrophobic, so that wasn't why. The pressure seemed to throb with life anyway. The pressure had been bothering her a little bit as of late. It had been so minimal at the Malfoys that she had pushed the feeling away as nervousness. But the instantaneous wave of pressure that had hit her now couldn't be explained that way.

None the less, Sylvia didn't want to deal with it at the moment, so she ignored the feeling and continued pushing through the crowds of kids of all ages. Most of the compartments were full, and the rest had people in them. None were empty, as Sylvia had hoped. She retraced her steps, and knocked on the door of the first compartment with an empty space. Two boys and a girl where situated in the seats, and Sylvia glanced at them all in one, sweeping look.

One boy had bright red hair, green eyes, tall, muscular body. The other had brown hair, one blue eye, one green eye, and the same tall, muscular build as the other boy. Brothers, she figured. The girl seemed to be of Asian descent. She had copper skin and sleek, straight black hair. They all looked up as Sylvia opened the door.

'Hello.' The red-haired boy said. 'Who are you?'

'Sylvia Lioness.'

'Oh. The girl they found last month?'

'Yes. Can I sit here?'

'Oh, sure.'

Sylvia sat down next to the red-haired boy, who stuck out his hand to shake.

'I'm Oliver Frost.' Sylvia didn't respond, and made no sign that she saw his hand. He didn't take offense, and simply withdrew it.

'How did you hide from the Ministry for so long?' The girl asked, watching Sylvia narrowly as if Sylvia was something distasteful.

'Lots of ways. Why?'

'No one else has hidden from the Ministry for that long, except for the Dark Lord.'

'They didn't find him because they weren't looking for him.' Sylvia said.

'What do you mean?'

'Nothing.'

The train had started moving, and now that Sylvia was trying to focus on something other than these other kids and Hogwarts, the pressure on her body had come back into focus. It didn't hurt, she evaluated; it just kind of throbbed, like a vibration. It was almost pleasant. Like the feeling of life pulsating around her. Maybe it was life? She pondered. After all, she'd had strange abilities when she was younger (as still did have them), so why would being able to feel the pulsating life in everyone around her be unusual?

Whatever. She didn't want to think about it right now. She pulled herself out of her thoughts and realized that the brown-haired boy was asking her a question. He was watching her intently, waiting for his answer.

'Sorry?' She asked.

'Why were you hiding from the Ministry for so long?'

'Personal reasons.' She said in a tone that said she was done talking about it. The boy watched her for a second, then nodded slightly before turning to look out the window.

'Why kinds of personal reasons?' The girl asked. Sylvia turned a very cold stare onto the girl. She was beginning to like her less and less. She seemed to be the prying, I'm-in-control type. After she felt the girl had gotten the message of her cold stare, Sylvia took her satchel and went to get dressed into her robes. On her way back, now dressed in her black school robes, she bumped into a boy with green eyes and black hair.

'Sorry.' He said, glancing at her. It was a brief glance, but a second later the sight seemed to have registered in his brain more clearly and he looked at Sylvia again.

'Hey! Aren't you the girl the bounty hunters caught last month?'

'Yes.' Sylvia glared, daring him to ask another question. He seemed to get the message.

'Cool. My dad's an Auror. He was one of the people who looked for you towards the beginning.'

'And you are…?'

'Albus Potter. You're Stella Lioness, right?'

'Sylvia Estelle Lioness.' Sylvia corrected him.

'Oh, right. Nice meeting you.'

She nodded, and decided that Scorpius was wrong yet again (surprise, surprise). Albus Potter was certainly not a "shy, irritating wizard."

'Albus! What are you doing?' Another boy came out into the corridor.

'Coming.' He said and turned towards his friend. They arrived at the Kings Cross Station in the late afternoon, around 4.00pm. First years went off with a giant-looking man with long brown hair and a long beard as well. He was calling for first-years with a deep, warm voice that echoed across the whole station. Sylvia joined the other students, who were taking horse-drawn carriages. She glanced at the black, bony, winged horses and sat down. Two second-years and a forth-year were in the carriage. The second years were girls, preoccupied with the gossip they were whispering.

'Hello. You're the Lioness girl, aren't you?' The fourth-year looked at her. He had such pale grey eyes they looked nearly color-less, and a skinny, tall looking body. His skin was an ivory color, almost pale white, giving him an overall appearance of someone rather delicate.

'Yes.' Sylvia said, rather irritably, 'Who are you?'

'Felix Divinity.' The surname rang a faint bell. Sylvia searched her memory, trying to remember. No luck; it must have been before her parents died. From that day forward, she had been able to remember every minute of everyday. Before then, she had good memories, though they weren't as clear or as detailed.

'What's your first name?' Felix asked her.

'Sylvia.' She said.

'Ahh. What year are you in?'

'Fourth year.'

'Oh. Me too.'

'What house are you in?'

'Gryffindor.'

'Me too.' He smiled. 'The best House of all.'

Sylvia looked at Felix, and said, 'I'll take your word for it.'

They soon arrived at Hogwarts, and their luggage was taken to their designated houses. They were directed to the Great Hall, and Felix walked with Sylvia. They didn't speak, and Sylvia kept the silence happily as she took in her grand surroundings. They were just entering the Great Hall, when Scorpius came up to them. Sylvia sensed Felix stiffen next to her, and she stiffened minutely as well.

'Hello Sylvia; Divinity.' Scorpius gave Felix a disgusted, condescending glance.

'Hello Scorpius.' Sylvia said, 'Did you need something?'

'I just came to make sure you were alright. Father wanted me to help you get familiar, you know.' He said this with a touch of pride.

'I'm doing just fine thank you. Felix has done a good job at directing me where to go.'

'Oh. I couldn't find you earlier… I can help you now though. I'm sure you don't wish to be in the presence of people like him any longer. Those of such blood make father and I disgusted, you know.'

'Felix is just fine thank you. If you were so prejudiced against the Divinities, I would've thought you'd have taken the time to make sure I didn't get in such hands.' Sylvia retorted.

Scorpius was very offended.

'Father will not be happy.'

'I don't care what your father says. I will make acquaintances with whom I want, thank you.' And Sylvia stepped around Scorpius and walked towards the Gryffindor table. Scorpius remained rooted to the spot, stunned.

Felix smirked as he skirted around Scorpius and rejoined Sylvia.

'I didn't know you and Scorpius were related.' He said quietly, as he sat down next to Sylvia.

'We're not.' She said rather violently, 'The only association is that Draco Malfoy adopted me as his legal daughter.'

'I'm guessing you don't like that situation.'

'It's better than being locked in an orphanage cell.'

'What do you mean?'

Sylvia shook her head, and just that moment, the first years came in, following a tall, beautiful woman dressed in ruby red robes. She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties. She had wavy, blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back, and blue eyes the color of the ocean.

'Professor Vitravis. She's in charge of Gryffindor." Felix whispered.

Sylvia simply watched as the first years marched up to the front of the hall. They all gathered in a group when they reached the front, and stared at the stool with the Sorting Hat. Professor Vitravis stood next to the Hat, and spoke in a strong voice that immediately silenced the room, "Welcome, first years to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Throughout your educational career here, you will be part of one of four Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. Your House will be like your family. You will sleep, eat, and learn, with your designated House. You can also gain or lose points for your House, affecting its chances at winning the House Cup at the end of the year. The Sorting Hat' She indicated the hat, 'will sort you into your House.' She concluded her short speech, and as if on cue, the hat began to say/sing,

'I'm the one to sort you all

into your special House.

Into which House will you fall?

Come on up and see.

Gryffindor houses the brave

Those who help out all their friends

No matter the consequence, they're willing to pay

For that is how their made.

Syltherin, on the other hand

Doesn't think that way

They strive to obtain fame and fortune

In whatever way they can

Ravenclaw contains those who

Often have their noses in books

These intelligent students

Care more about personality than looks

And finally is Hufflepuff,

Who contains all of the rest

This lenient House doesn't mind

Those students who don't fit in.

So come on up now, first-years,

For your time now has come

To be sorted into the House

That you will fit in best.'

The Sorting Hat finished its poem, and everyone (except the first-years) burst into applause. Even Sylvia clapped with the rest, some-what impressed with the Hat's poem-making skills.

Professor Vitravis then called off a huge list of names, sorting the new students into their houses. When that long chore was completed, Professor Tanzirald rose and called for silence.

'I understand you are all hungry, and ready to eat, however I have a few things to say before we lose ourselves in the feast. Firstly, the Forbidden forest is, understandably, forbidden. Also, staircase 225 is currently having horrible fits, and it is suggested that it be left alone until it has settled down. And finally, for the school song! Ready? Begin!'

The words floated in midair, like colorful clouds hovering in the air. Everybody sang to a different tune, and Sylvia felt faint from the horrible cacophony of the hundreds of voices all singing differently. When it was, at last, finished, the platters on all the tables filled magically, and the feast began.

Sylvia glanced at the food and grabbed an apple. She twisted the stem off and bit into it with a juicy crunch! She glanced at the mark in the apple. It had bright white fruit that contrasted sharply with the dark red skin. Ghosts floated around. The Gryffindor ghost was named Sir Nicholas something. Some students just called him Nearly-Headless Nick, due to his neck, which was cut off except for a flap of skin which had not been severed properly.

'Hello. Hello.' He greeted a few first-years down a ways to Sylvia's right. She watched them. They looked nervous and scared. Nick patted one student on his shoulder. His eyes widened in shock and his shoulder shivered involuntarily. Sylvia had heard of ghosts, of course. She knew there were quite a few in Hogwarts and a few hundred in the magical world. She'd never met any in person, per say, but she had read up about them and the memories of those days rushed to the surface of her mind. The information scrolled past her conscious thoughts like a news-feed. She hastily pushed the onslaught of information back into her unconsciousness and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed anything unusual. Everybody was talking gaily with their friends. Felix Divinity was talking animatedly with some boys about Quidditch. The young girl with fiery red hair, freckles, and blue eyes a few seats down was glancing around looking some-what exasperated. Sylvia recognized her as a description of a Weasley. Sylvia focused on what she was saying.

'- read Chapter 10 of Magic's History in the 1800s?' the young girl was saying.

The boy across from her had dark hair and blue eyes of the same color.

'Come on Rose. You don't really think we'd read up on that for the first day of school do you?'

Sylvia, feeling bored and intrigued by Rose Weasley's question responded, 'I have.'

Five people turned and stared. Sylvia kept her eyes on Rose. After a moment of stunned silence, she continued eagerly, 'What did you think about the house-elf trials of 1859? I thought it was wrong. Why are we so against their freedom?'

The information from chapter 10 in Magic's History in the 1800s flooded Sylvia's mind. She had read all her books ahead of time. The Malfoys were very often busy, and Scorpius had gotten on her nerves too many times, so she had locked her door and settled and read. She could still remember the pictures the books showed—quick slideshows of the times…. Sylvia broke out of the trance-like memories and brought herself back to remember the information, pushing everything else to the back of her mind.

' Some house-elves raised a concern among wizard families… they wished for freedom… One women said they should be servants… others said freedom was right, after all the goblins were free, and giants and other creatures were free. Some house-elves were horrified at the idea of freedom…. Strikes… protests… Minister of Magic Barnabus Daniel Fredrick Mottee claimed house elves servants of house and that freedom was up to the owners. '

This information flashed through Sylvia's thoughts in a half a millisecond. Six pairs of eyes were trained at her, waiting for her response.

'I think people are stupid.'

Silence continued, and Sylvia coldly explained her reasons.

'We wizard think we're so damn smart with our wands and magic and apparition and everything. We think our word would be listened to with awe with complete interest. But the real question is why? Why should that happen? Other magical creatures may not be allowed to have wands or learn charms and hexes and spells, but why does that make us superior? They can apparate too! They can do magic so complex we can't even begin to understand how it's happening. Why is Gringott's so safe? Why are house-elves so useful? Because each creature had its own magical abilities; we're just too stupid to see that. We think that we're so superior and great. We have magic we have wands… but even Muggles are very well advanced. Sure they don't have magic. They think magic is a joke and that dragons and flying broomsticks don't exist, but they get on pretty well without it all. The difference? They had to work more for their accomplishments than we did. Sure, our world is more dangerous because danger is more easily accomplished but that just balances the scale. Really, we're not much better than house-elves or goblins or Muggles. So the house-elf trials? Its just an example of us wanting to control other magical creatures, which is plain stupid. Why? Because if house-elves weren't so convinced that it is horrendous to go against their master's wishes and if they hadn't been bound to that idea—magically bound—then we would be in a very sorry state. And we'd do well to remember that. There we were having trials that would last nearly 2 years about house-elves, when we knew they wouldn't be able to be set free without our permission. We had nearly 2 years of trials to come to the conclusion of what? That it's the owner's decision…what was already in play. Only humans could do such a stupid thing—make a big ordeal about something and end up at square one again. Just stupid.'

Complete silence. Others had fallen silent to listen to Sylvia's speech. As a matter of fact, over half the table had fallen silent to listen. No one said anything. Sylvia watched them, gauging each reaction. A slight sift in bodyweight. A small widening of the eyes. A mouth wide open. After many minutes of this silence, Rose Weasley spoke up.

'Do you think house-elves should be freed?'

'No.' This startled her.

'But you just said that if they weren't bound to their master's wishes…'

'If is a very big word. If you had been sorted into Slytherin, what would you be the same person you are now? If you a boy, would you still be like you? If you mother or father were different, would you have turned out the same? If you knew everything about everything, would you still be interested in reading about the world and how it works? What I'm saying is that if the house-elves weren't magically bound to their masters and houses, then they would have a lot more ability and power. But the fact of the matter is that they don't have that freedom because when their species was created, that was how they were made. There are a few free elves that are very happy with their life styles for various reasons. Nearly every other house-elf, however, would be virtually destroyed if they were freed. They would not feel like they have purpose in life any more and, of course, the magical world would be in horrible turmoil not just because of the destruction of the life and souls of the freed house-elves, but because their little servants would be gone and unable to do their work and they would have to do it themselves. About 10% of the witches and wizards in the world have an house-elf in their house. That might not seem like a lot, but it is. Not only houses, but schools too. Hogwarts had a huge staff of house-elves. They are paid if they wish, and are treated very well, but think of how long this feast would take in those elves weren't working away to fill and refill the platters?' Sylvia pointed to a refilling platter.

'The world would be destroyed for a very long time. It would sink into depression. That would not be very helpful to anyone. So, no, I don't think the house-elves should be free unless both the elf and the owner agree on it. Abused elves make a different story, of course. But in general, elves are not really abuses. Treated like servants, yes, but not abused.'

Silence followed this speech as well. Sylvia was getting rather irritated by the astonishment that presented itself each time she spoke. At long last, Rose opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes veered from Sylvia's face to a spot above Sylvia's left shoulder. Sylvia ignored the person, and took a bite of apple, a good guess at who exactly would disturb her then and there. Rose was glaring at the person behind her with such intense hatred that Sylvia was nearly convinced Scorpius was the person behind her.

Felix Divinity, who had turned to stare at the person, frowned too, and Sylvia's guess was confirmed. Sylvia toyed with her apple, spinning it around and around until she decided to get over the conversation with Scorpius once and for all. Her voice was cold and hard as she spoke, her back still towards him. Many people flinched at the icy tone she used.

'What do you want Scorpius?' She demanded. He shifted uncomfortably.

'Can I talk to you?' She knew, with out even looking, that his eyes has flicked around at the table uncomfortably aware that nearly the whole table was watching.

'Talk.' She demanded.

'Alone.'

Sylvia spun around on her seat so fast he reflexively jumped back slightly. She stared hard into his grey eyes. She could see the determination in them. She gave a soft growl, not unlike those she had unleashed in the orphanage. Scorpius flinched as the sound. Sylvia stood up abruptly.

'This better be good.' She spat through her clenched teeth. She walked after him irritably out of the Great Hall. She looked to see if anyone was in the hall, and spun on him, her eyes burning with disgust and dislike.

'Look. Divinity and the Weasleys aren't good friends to make.'

'I just met them. That doesn't classify them as friends.'

'Father wouldn't want you associating with them.'

'That's your problem.'

'No it's not!'

'Isn't it? It's your fault that I didn't have anyone to show me what to do. If you go tattle-tailing to father, you're going to be in trouble. Not me.'

Sylvia could see Scorpius gritting his teeth, even though his mouth was closed.

'I'll tell father.'

'If you were going to do that, we wouldn't be having this conversation.'

'Oh yeah?'

'If you were going to write father, you wouldn't be worried about getting in trouble, and would just do it because you love to get people in trouble. But since you know you're going to get in trouble for not doing as you were told, you don't want to send a letter. So you've decided to try and scare me into what you want me to do.'

Scorpius was speechless. Sylvia, knowing that she had won the argument, turned on her heel and re-entered the Great Hall. The Gryffindor table watched warily as she sat back down. The crunch of her apple seemed to make a loud, distinctive sound as she bit into it.

'I believe we were talking about house-elf rights?'


	6. Chapter Four

Courses began on Wednesday the 2nd. Felix didn't see Sylvia when he went down to breakfast. But, since they were both in almost all of the same courses, he felt sure that he would see her soon. For some reason he found comfort in the knowledge. Even though he had only met her the previous evening, he felt like she was a friend, someone to be trusted. On second though, he supposed he was just pleased that even though she was legally Scorpius' sister, she despised him. Felix smiled as he recalled how uncomfortable Scorpius has looked the evening before. Someone tapped him on the shoulder.

'Felix. Who is she?' Edward Frost sat down next to him. Edward's blue eye was turned towards him, as he filled his plate with food.

'Sylvia?'

'Yeah.'

'Morning. Did I miss anything?' Oliver Frost, Edward's twin sat down on the other side of Felix. Felix smiled, amused.

'Well, I don't know. She's very guarded like she expects everyone to suddenly turn into… into…. Like Voldemort or something. And she's really smart. Did you hear her last night? She even left Rose speechless, and you know, Rose is never speechless when it comes to history.'

Edward and Oliver nodded sagely. Everybody knew very well that Rose Weasley always talked about history.

'And now… she hasn't even come down for breakfast.' Felix tried to make his voice sound casual as he said this.

'She hasn't?'

Felix shook his head. They boys finished breakfast and were walking out as Sylvia walked into the Great Hall, he eyes distance, like she was daydreaming. The boys looked at each other and followed her to the Gryffindor table.

Sylvia sat down, and grabbed a piece of toast, and bit into absent-mindedly. She was in the middle of chewing, when her body stiffened. He eyes widened, her breath coming in shallow gasps. The boys exchanged looks of alarm. Felix grabbed her shoulder. She spun around, wand out, ready to use.

'Oh. Hi.' She said, her body going limp as she back towards the table, and munched on her toast, her breathing returning to normal again.

Felix sat down to her right, and Edward and Oliver sat down on the other side.

'What was that all about?'

'What?'

'That whole vision thing. You looked scared and stiff and….'

'Oh. I was just…umm… daydreaming.'

'No you weren't.' Kayla, an Asian girl, who Felix believed had a thing for Edward, came up behind them.

'Sorry?' Felix sensed Sylvia stiffen slighting. He could tell Kayla did too.

'I said you weren't day dreaming.'

'Why do you think that?'

'My grandmother had it. It's a special memory thing. If you have it, you can remember almost everyday of your life. She would get the same far-away look and her memories were as real as they were when the event happened.'

'And what makes you think I have that?'

'Because you were doing the same thing as my grandmother. Except you were clenched, she was always smiling. I suppose you like to dwell on your bad memories.'

Sylvia stood up, her toast left on her plate, untouched. Her teeth were clenched and her eyes blazed with wildness. Felix's heart skipped a beat as he watched her stick her face into Kayla's.

'You want to know what it's called? It's called highly superior autobiographical memory. And yes, I do have it. And yes, that's what was happening. And you want to know what else? It's none of your damn business! '

Sylvia walked off, dignified, and Felix could tell Kayla was shocked. Then, Sylvia suddenly stopped. She tuned around. He eyes still blazed with that wild fury. She walked back a few steps so that she was close enough for Kayla to hear, but far enough so that they looked distant.

'And you kn0w what else? Some people haven't had an innocent, joyful life. Just because you grandmother, who died two years ago, I recall, walked around with a smile on her face doesn't mean that she liked to dwell on her good memories. It means those are the only memories that came to her mind when you saw her in a trance. And so you shouldn't go being a hypocrite, saying I must dwell on bad memories. Maybe you just always bring bad memories to my mind. Or maybe I don't have any good memories to dwell on!' That was a hard concept to swallow and Felix could sense that Kayla was feeling at least a little bit guilty for her accusation.

'Is she a really hateful person, or is it just me?'

'Just you.' Three voices told her. That was not the answer she wanted to hear and was about to walk off.

'Kayla!' Edward called. She turned her silky black hair lashing through the air. Felix had to admit, she was pretty.

'What?'

'Meeting.' He told her. She nodded, and headed off towards her class again.

'Got it Felix?' Edward turned to Felix. Felix nodded.

He, Oliver, Edward, and Kayla, you see, were a pack. A pack of Myrci—plural for Myrchase. See, a Myrchase is a person who can turn into a Ferefox and a winged being. A Ferefox, is of course a person who can turn into a fire-colored fox. And by winged being, I mean that they sprout huge, powerful wings. Edward was in charge of the pack. And when he said "meeting" they all knew that they were to meet in the Hogwarts gardens, under a big willow tree. Felix could guess what Edward's meeting would be about tonight.

He gathered up his books, and headed to Transfiguration. He hoped Sylvia would find the classroom alright…

When he got to class, Sylvia was sitting at a desk in the very back. No one was sitting next to her, so Felix took the seat that shared the desk with her. She glanced at him as he sat down. Then, she focused on staring at the desk, her eyes scrolling as if she were reading something. Felix looked at the desk. There was nothing there. Maybe she was doing the mind thing again, he thought, and watched her. She finally came out of her trance, and caught him staring at her.

'What?'

'Nothing.'

She arched an eyebrow, questioning him nonverbally. He looked at her. She gave up and took a surveying look of everyone in the class so far. One girl was playing with a paper airplane, which she had put a spell on to make it fly. Sylvia flicked her wand, and muttered a word Felix couldn't here, and the plane became a whistling firework, and burst into the air, the sparkling lights hanging in the air, "STOP" and then, with a few more muttered words from Sylvia, the lights danced around to spell " It's irritating." And the lights fell to the ground in ashes.

The girl who had made the plane giggled nervously with her friend, and they glanced around the room. Felix looked at Sylvia, who was reading from her textbook. He glanced around the room. No one else was looking at her accusingly. _Wow_, he thought _how did she do that_?

Just then, Professor Vitravis walked in.

'Good Morning. Welcome to your forth year of transfiguration.' Professor Vitravis said from the front of the classroom. She surveyed the whole class.

'Before I begin with today's lesson, I'd like to know if anyone has begun to read the book?'

Rose Weasley's hand shot up without hesitation. Nobody was surprised.

'What aren't your raising your hand? You've started to read the book!' Felix whispered to Sylvia.

'No I haven't.' She said under her breath.

'What do you mean?'

Sylvia glared at him, and raised her hand with a look that said, "Fine. I'll do it to shut you up."

Felix pondered over her words. He had been sure she's begun to read the book. She was reading it the previous night in the Gryffindor Common Room. Why was she denying?

Professor Vitravis awarded 5 points to Rose for knowing the spell to transfigure something. She opened her mouth to begin the lesson, since no one else ever read their books ahead of time in transfiguration. Felix heard a significant throat-clearing noise from his right. He glanced at Sylvia, who still had her hand raised and was staring intently at Professor Vitravis, looking somewhat irritated that Vitravis hadn't thought to look at the rest of the class to see if anyone else had their hand raised.

Professor Vitravis looked up at the noise and everyone else turned their attention towards Sylvia. She continued to stare intently as the Professor.

'Did you have a question?' She asked.

'No.' Sylvia said.

'Then why is your hand raised.'

'Because you asked if anyone began to read the book.'

'You mean you began to read it?'

'I finished it.'

A short silence.

'Well then…err… what is the spell to transfigure a mouse into a finch?'

'_Swixovus aviarum_.'

'Correct. And the spell for turning a stone into a crab?'

'It's not possible because the stone is a non-living thing and therefore doesn't have the energy inside it to turn into a living thing. However, if you obtain energy using a spell such as _Invigoria_ or _Enregis Viverum_ and then use something like _absobti enregis viverum_ stone before using the transfiguration spell _swixovus craoblus_ or _mervat craoblus_ to transfigure the stone to a crab.'

'How do you know those spells?'

'I read them.'

'That was not in the book I assigned.'

'No, it was in _Advanced Transfiguration: Beyond Your NEWT Levels _by Victoria Derit.'

'Why did you read that book?'

'Because I felt like it.'

'But you haven't even taken a single class in transfiguration!'

'So?'

'Well, it would hardly be expected for you to know transfiguration above the NEWT levels in your forth year, now wouldn't it.'

'I needed to know everything possible to stay hidden from the Ministry for 7 ½ years.'

'Yes, well, twenty points to Gryffindor for you extreme amount of knowledge.'

Felix was blown away by Sylvia's casual way of telling her knowledge. Unlike Rose, who seemed rather proud that she was the top of the class, Sylvia didn't seem to care. It was almost like she felt it was part of her survival, not a special ability.

'Now, today we are going to start with part 1.1 of your book. Those of you who aren't reading _Advanced Transfiguration for Above NEWT Levels_ if you could please open your books to page 5. The spell which you see—_Unnum_—is used to combine things. For example, I have two candles here. To make them one…

'Unnum!' Professor Vitravis encircled the candles with a swish of her wand and they combined to form one candle with twice the diameter of the original candles.

'You must remember the wand-movement! If you do not encircle the objects you wish to combine, then your candle will explode. Here are your candles. Everybody try.'

'Unnum!' Felix told his candles, swishing a circle around them. Nothing happened.

'Unnum!' He repeated. Nothing. Irritated, he tried and tried again. Finally, exasperated with the effort, he glanced at Sylvia to see how she was doing. Her candles looked exactly like Professor Vitravis' had. Her wand was no where to be seen and she was staring at the candles. A second later, the fat candle sitting on her desk split into the two original candles. A small smile of triumph brushed her lips. Then, concentration, she combined them and separated them, combined them and separated them. Obviously bored with it, she had them change colors. One candle she made blue, the other she made yellow. Then, combining them, she had a fat green candle. Felix watched entranced and she them made them spin as they combined, making a swirling design in the coloring. An explosion jerked Felix out of his entranced staring. Simon Queens had exploded his candle. His face was covered with melted wax and he scratched at it in pain. His one eyelid was sealed shut as the wax dried over it. His friend led him carefully to the hospital wing.

Professor Vitravis cleaned up the mess and Felix returned to his work. He gave a sign of one who is about to resign himself to doing a huge load of work and set to. He was working very intently, when a voice to his right told him, 'Don't make such a big circle with your wand and don't make the circle so fast. Go slightly slower and make a circle just big enough to encompass the candles.'

Felix glanced at Sylvia. Her candles were back to their original states. Remember the magic she had been performing earlier, he said irritably, 'How would you know? You weren't even using your wand earlier.'

She calmly took out her wand, encircled the candles with a swishing motion and the word "Unnum" and the candles were combined into one fat candle.

Felix gritted his teeth. How could she possibly know so much information? None-the-less, Professor Vitravis would be sure to give him practicing as homework if he didn't figure out how to combine the candles, so he followed her advice, but nothing happened.

'Well?' He said, rather smugly.

'You didn't try. You were willing it not to happen.'

'Willing my foot!' He hissed, but tried again anyway. Professor Vitravis was getting dangerously close to checking on his progress. He willed with all his might that the candles would combine.

It worked. The candles merged in a second, creating a fat candle identical to Sylvia's. And what's more, he was relieved from doing homework that night.

Sylvia showed likewise abilities in all the other classes except for History of Magic (during which she charmed her quill to take notes), and Herbology.

During Lunch, she was no where to be found, nor at dinner. Edward and Oliver met Felix at the entrance to the Great Hall. Felix stopped, and made as if to engage them in an animated conversation while they waited for Kayla to join them. She soon did, and checking that no one was watching, they quickly went out to the Hogwarts Garden Area. It was deserted. The whispering wind in the trees made them all more alert. They stopped under a big willow tree with a curtain of branches and leaves, hiding them from direct view.

'Alright. We've all seen the new girl, Sylvia Lioness and interacted with her. I got a weird feeling about her… Like she's a friend, but I've never met her before so that doesn't make sense. And then there's the question on why the Malfoys would take her in. She can only be good for something if they took her in, they wouldn't think about adopting someone who isn't.' Edward said, his voice slightly below its normal volume.

'Well, she knows a lot of information. She's read books past NEWT levels, and known it all. She can quote it all, too! The only things she didn't seem to do so well in were History and Herbology. The weird thing was that she didn't seem to find the fact that see knew so much all that great. I mean, Rose, you know, kinda knows she's smart and is proud that she knows it all. But She just treats it like it's nothing exciting. It's almost like she expects it of herself, you know?' Felix said, frowning as he searched for the right way to explain Sylvia's attitude about her intelligence.

'That's wrong!' Kayla protested, 'My grandmother said that her ability was just about her life. It didn't help he remember anything unless it directly affected her life or had something important to do with her memories. It didn't help her remember essays or anything.'

'I'm telling you that she knew it. Maybe she's smart as well?'

Kayla frowned; she hadn't liked Sylvia from the start. The powerful aura that surrounded Sylvia made her irritated, and she didn't care to find out why she felt that way.

'I say we see how it goes. She is obviously different.' Oliver said.

'We should definitely watch her. I don't think she's what she seems. I think she has had experiences that we don't know about that have made her cold and blocked off from the world. Felix, I think you should keep watching her and find out anything you can. If you find anything out, use your stone.'

Edward was referring to the emerald that connected the pack. Kayla wore it as a ring, Felix and Oliver wore it as a bracelet, and Edward's was embedded into the underside of his left wrist. The emerald connected them all, and if any of them touched it and murmured a certain spell they could communicate. If anyone besides the wearer took the ring off, then the stones would burn, sending the message out.

'Good?' Edward looked around at them all. Everybody nodded and they all headed to the Great Hall, not noticing the very person they were talking about, perched in a nearby maple tree.


	7. Chapter Five

Sylvia, had, of course, heard every word that was said. She had been catching up on the news she's missed being able to read during breakfast when she'd felt the slight pressure of the four people coming from the castle. Over the course of the day, she realized that is was, in fact, the presence of life that she was feeling, for she felt it even in the trees and small animals around her. The larger and more powerful the organism, the more pressure. She couldn't figure out why she was only feeling this now, but was more interested in what it was, why she had it in the first place, and how it worked. Currently, she didn't want to waste her time on it however. It was somewhat comfortable, anyway. Like a reassurance.

And now that she had heard the conversation between Felix, the Frosts, and Kayla, she realized that her worries about being watched and hunted were not over. Even here, she was being searched for and attempted to be understood. At this thought, she knew she's have to double her defenses and avoid unnecessary contact with anyone suspicious or to nosey. Damn it! And she's thought she might finally be free from that oppression! She clenched her teeth and gave a soft snarl. _Couldn't life ever be somewhat easier? _

Quidditch Trials were coming up. Sylvia noticed the sign early one August morning in the Gryffindor Common Room. It flashed scarlet and gold broomstick and read, "Gryffindor Quidditch Trials! This Saturday at 10.00am!" Sylvia didn't pay much attention to the sign. She'd had an old, ratty broomstick, and knew how to fly rather well, but she didn't really care to be in a Quidditch team. She wasn't all that good at playing games with others, since she'd never done it before.

Sylvia walked over to and armchair in front of the fire, staring at the flames, simply watching them flicker. She was going through her whole week at school in her head. Ever since the "Cult", as she called the four teens tracking down her past, had had their conversation in the garden, she's been avoiding them. What with her busy schedule, homework overload, and avoidance of Scorpius, it'd made life a whole lot harder. But she had. She was pleased about it. She leaned forward, rested her elbows on her knees, and put her forehead in her hands.

''Morning. You're up early.'

Sylvia jumped and snapped her head to the side so fast that pain shot through her neck muscles.

It was Felix. Sylvia cussed inwardly. What the hell was Felix doing down her at 2 o'clock in the frickin' morning? It was pitch black outside, and silence was shouting its presence everywhere. Sylvia loved this time of morning, where she could relax and not work on avoiding anyone. Where the silence made it so pleasant to just sit down and not worry, write essays, or just watch the stars or fire. It was like a big sigh at the end of a day of hard work. Contentment and indescribable, inward-based pleasure.

So, of course, it had to be ruined. Felix had to come in and take all the peace and relaxation away. If she'd been paying more attention, she would've felt that close presence of his life form.

'I could say the same thing to you.' She told him, giving him a cold glare.

'Yes, well, I've been waiting to ambush you.'

'Ambush me?' The dark eyebrows above the hostile (yet pretty) gold-green eyes rose, questioning.

'Uh-hu. With questions.' Felix said, sauntering over another armchair and sat down in it.

'Oh.' Sylvia's tone dropped to a foreboding key.

'I haven't been able to talk to you for a while.-.' He went on.

'I've been busy.' She interrupted him.

'That's why I cam down now.'

'At 2 o'clock in the morning?' Disbelief coloured her tone. 'I could easily be sleeping.'

'Could. But I knew you wouldn't because I've been watching you, to see when you wouldn't be busy. And you never did your homework or anything in the common room or anywhere else, so I staid up and watched for you. And then you came down at two for a few nights so I figured…'

'You _spied_ on me?' Outrage widened her eyes as she stared into his. He saw the coldness and walls go up like sheets of ice on her pupils, flinched, and look down to break the chilling stare.

'I really need to talk to you.' He gave as an explanation. He sounded like a kid giving excuses for some wrong-doing, knowing they probably wouldn't work.

'Why?' She asked, clearly irritated, yet determined to get through it once and for all. When she asked, Felix scavenged for words. He wasn't exactly sure hot to aske his questions.

'Well, you're so unknown-your past and everything…'

'If I wanted my past to be known, It'd be know.' Coldly.

'Why's it such a secret? Did you kill somebody or something?' Felix said, irked by her cold tone. She gave a short, humorless laugh that made Felix edgy.

'Kill somebody. Haha. No. It's as "secret" as you call it, because I don't want to relive it. It's enough that I go through a good deal or it everyday already. I don't want to go through the detail as well, and then have all pity and sympathy about every day since I was five. They aren't good memories, and so why should I go through them again?'

Felix was surprised by this information.

'No good memories? None at all?'

'Four good memories since I was five. Exactly four.'

He nearly shivered at the though of it.

'Does Malfoy know?'

'Scorpius?' She asked, with an incredulous snort, "You think I'd tell him? Of all the people in the world! He'd go flaunting the information around, tell his stupid side-kicks, and by the next day, the whole bloody universe would know everything. Worse still: it wouldn't even be the true version, because as things get passed on they get twisted and changed until it's all just _wrong_. I'd do better to pass out novels on my past to everybody than tell _him._'

Sylvia rose from her chair, and made to walk away, when Felix called out one last question, in desperation, 'so nobody knows except you?'

Sylvia turned back toward him, 'No. nobo-' She stopped, mid-sentence staring at a corner of the room. She flinched for no reason, he eyes staring at the same place as if fixated. Felix assumed she was having one of her memory-things again. He was about to call to her, to break her out of the trance when she suddenly cam out of it. Her eyes swept the room and met Felix's gaze. She paused a minute and then said in a soft, chilling voice, 'No living human knows; yet one person remembers…'

Goosebumps rose on Felix's skin, and Sylvia turned and fled up to her dormitories.

'One person?' Edward asked, his eyebrows furrowed together over his different coloured eyes.

'How can a person know something if they're dead?' Kayla asked.

'Maybe it's an Inferi?' Oliver asked.

'They don't _remember_ things, they just attack things.' Kayla said.

'Well that's all I got.' Oliver shrugged.

'Oh well. Maybe we can figure out who it is. Find out who her friends or parents' friends were. We can send letters to them.' Edward mused.

'We don't even know who her parents are.' Felix said.

'It was in the newspaper when she was found, I think. And they died sometime. There was a big fuss about it. I forget why. I was only 6 or 7.' Kayla thought aloud.

'I know one person who would know, though.' Edward said, somewhat sourly.

'Who?' Kayla asked.

'Besides herself?' Oliver gave a wry smile.

'Scorpius Malfoy.' Edward said, his eyes narrowed.

'Why him?' Felix said, surprised.

'I'd bet a handful of Galleons the Malfoys didn't adopt her without good reason. As far as we know, there've been two main articles on Sylvia. So, they probably got most of their information from those articles. If the articles mentioned her parents (which they probably did), then they will know who her parents are. So the question is who's going to ask him?'

Silence followed.

'Okay then, I will. Meet you at lunch.' Edward said simply.

Scorpius was walking towards his Magical Creatures class, calling taunts to Melissa Inlargon, snickering with Goyle and Trace as she shrank from his insults.

'Hey Malfoy.' A voice behind him called. Scorpius turned. It was the Frost boy with the weird eye colours.

'What Frost?' Scorpius sneered. Frost came up and stopped.

'Where's your sister? I haven't seen her today.'

'None of your business.' Scorpius snapped.

'Oh. Well, when you see her tell her I know about her parents.'

"What do you mean? Everybody knows her parents are dead.'

'Oh no. I mean that she's not pure-blood.'

'What are you talking about? Of course she's pure-blood!'

'How would you know? You don't even know who her parents are!'

'Oh yeah? I've know who her parents are before everybody in this school!.'

'Prove it.' the different coloured eyes echoed with challenge.

Scorpius sneered.

'Primrose and Kyle Lioness.'

Surprise and something else flitted through the Frost's eyes and then he nodded curtly, turned, and walked off. Scorpius was nearly seething, and Goyle and Trace's jokes did register in his mind. The three boys slipped into the class, and Scorpius cautiously made his way next to Sylvia. When he got there, he whispered vehemently in her ear, 'Tell your stupid Frost friends to stop coming to me for information about you. You're lucky I knew about your parents to answer his question, or you would be experiencing the worst curse ever.'

Sylvia froze. Scorpius, thinking he'd finally won an argument smiled smugly as he sidled back towards Goyle and Trace.

Sylvia was stunned. She didn't think the Cult would go any farther in their hunt of her past. But now, knowing her parents, they could easily find _him_, the one person who remembered the past. The only one who could give it all away. Just wonderful.

The Cult spent their lunch hour in the library, looking for anything on Kyle or Primrose Lioness.

Kayla bit her lip furiously as she skimmed through pages of the book. The words weren't really being absorbed. She was more interested in worrying about the Christmas Ball coming up. She shot a surreptitious glance at Edward. He was reading intently in a book titled _Magical Scientists From 1990 to Modern Day._

Kayla turned her gaze back to her book. The ball was, obviously, a few months away, but she was nervous. She wanted Edward to invite her. The only person in the world she wanted to go with. She tried to focus on her book, as her stomach started to get butterflies and her heart fluttered softly. She needed to focus on Sylvia's parents.

The corners of Kayla's mouth twisted slightly in a sneer. The irritating, gloomy, attention-hogging, disgusting, ugly, animalistic girl. Here she was, having to spend her precious time (that she could be using to find a good dress or practicing her hair style) to search for the dumb girl's parents so they could know who she was. Who the hell cared who she was? She could be a bloody werewolf or vampire for all she cared.

Edward came up behind her. The sneer disappeared instantly followed by the arrival of a small smile.

'I found something guys.'

Everybody looked.

'Look.' Edward pointed to a passage. Kayla looked and read it.: _Kyle Lioness (1981 - 2017): Experimental Scientist.. Often helped Aurors to get information out of hostages due to his various potions. Worked often with the scientist Norman Yiluen in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Inventions. He was murdered in a common Apothecary shop on September 21st, 2017. His wife, Primrose Traverse, was also killed and the daughter was not ever found, and assumed to be dead._

'Okay, so you want to contact this other scientist?' Kayla asked when she finished reading.

'Can't hurt trying.' Edward said.


	8. Chapter Six

The owl got sent out that afternoon. Edward wrote it out, asking for any information on Kyle Lioness' experiments or close friends or anything.

Meanwhile, the rush of Quidditch Trials was putting the whole school in hyper-mode. All any male student could talk about was Quidditch, brooms, and Quidditch. At long last, Saturday came. Edward, being the Gryffindor Team Captain, was down on the Quidditch field by 8.00am, making sure everything was in place and putting together a mental plan of what to do with the people coming to the try outs. Since it was his first year of being captain, Edward wanted to make sure to get _everything_ right. He was deciding where everyone should line up, when figure in his perephial vision caught his eye. He turned to see Sylvia Lioness walking along with her usual determined pace towards him. Surprise and confusing and uncertaintly enveloped Edward. He watched the approaching figure, and was about to call out her, when she veered off towards the viewing stands. She sat down in a middle row, and watched him as he worked.

A slight flush coloured his cheeks as he felt her gaze fixed on him. He tried to block her out, but the harder he tried the more the image of her voice and face came to mind. Questions rushed though his thoughts, and he wondered about whether he was going to get an answer to his owl about Kyle Lioness or not..

Edward was just finishing his work , and was about to walk right up to Sylvia and ask her questions, when a group of young girls came out as well as the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team player he'd known and played with the previous year. Oliver came out, carrying a huge bundle of brooms. The group of girls, it turned out, wanted to be on the team. Their giggles and whispered immediately told Edward that they would not be good flyers. However, he told them to show him what they could do. Two of the girls nearly fell off the broom once it took flight. Another was to terrified to get into the air, and another rose in the air, got scared, jerked the broom around, and ended up taking a jarring flight around the field.

Edward fought to keep a straight face once the girl landed again. His eyes swept the grounds to see who else was trying out, and he could've sworn Sylvia was smirking. By 11.00am, Edward was sweaty, tired, and hungry. He'd gone through dozens of boys and girls wanting to join the Gryffindor team. And though he fought it as hard as possible, he couldn't quite resist the urge to watch Sylvia's observation of the whole thing. He wondered why she'd even come to the field. She obviously didn't plan on trying out.

At 11.30am, everyone was dead tired. Good players for all the position had been found. Except the Seeker.

'I don't know who I'm going to get as Seeker. Nobody I've watched is light , or confident, or fast enough.' Edward muttered to Oliver and Felix.

'Hey James! Ted!' He called to the two boys standing a little ways off. The two turned towards Edward's call, and walked over. One was dark haired, with bright blue eyes. The other had shaggy brown hair, and dark brown eyes.

'Look. We've got a player for every place except Seeker. Anyone got ideas?'

'To bad Albus is a Chaser. He'd be a good Seeker.'

'Yeah. He would…' Everyone agreed. Albus soon walked up to join the group, and was proposed the question of who to be Seeker as well.

'Why not her?' He said, pointing up to the stands. Everybody turned. It was Sylvia.

'_Her? Why her?_'

'She does have amazing reflexes…' Felix commented.

'She would be light enough too…' Oliver added.

'She's fast, agile, smart, clever, and confident.' Albus said.

Everybody turned to look at him. A pink tinge rose on his cheeks.

'I've been her class partner a few times. And I've watched her.' He said, pushing his glasses up on his nose.

'Okay. Let's ask. I doubt she'll agree though.' Edward said.

'I'm not asking.' Felix said.

'Me neither.' Oliver spoke up.

'Nor me.' Ted Lupin added.

'I'll do it.' James Potter said. He strode off, and they all watched him eagerly.

Sylvia had gone to watch the try outs simply because she had nothing better to do. Scoripus seemed to be around every corner. For some reason, Kayla Sebastian seemed to be stalking her, So, in order to escape it all, Sylvia had made her way outdoors, and decided that if she wanted to know that the Cult wasn't going to catch her, that she needed to know exactly what they were doing. And what better way to do so, than to watch them work?

Scores of students had arrived for the try outs. Sylvia almost felt like the whole of Gryffindor had shown up. Towards the end of the morning, dozens of horrible, average, and good players had been rejected. Those that had made it consisted of Edward Frost as Captain, and a Chaser. Felix Divinity as Keeper James Potter and Teddy Lupin as Beaters. Oliver Frost, and Albus Potter as the other two Chasers. And an un-found person for Seeker.

Sylvia was about ready to leave, when James Potter came bounding up the stands towards her.

'Hey Sylvia!' He called as he ran up the last couple of rows towards her.

'Hello.' She said coolly.

'Whadda think?'

'Oh. I suppose we might make it this year.' She said as if it didn't matter.

'Why did you try out?' He asked.

'Because I didn't feel like it.' The icy tone she used when it came to personal topics was beginning to change her tone.

'Well, we're missing a Seeker, and you'd do great.' He said, obliviously.

Sylvia gave him a look that said _Did you just hear me?_

He obviously hadn't., so she told him, not even bothering to keep the ice out of her voice, 'I don't want to play.'

'Why not?' He asked, surprised.

'I'm horrible at flying.' She lied.

'At least try.' He urged, not quite comprehending that she didn't _want_ to try. Sylvia could tell he wasn't getting in. She opened her mouth, to said something insulting and thus get him off her case when she decided she might as well just go along. No use wasting her energy arguing with someone so thick.

'Fine.' She snapped irritably. James smiled like she'd agreed automatically. Sylvia gritted her teeth.

'I told you she'd try.' James said, when they got back down to the rest of the team.

'Here. Show us what you can do.' Edward handed her a broom. It was in 1000 times better shape than the broom Sylvia had learned to fly on. She took it, glancing at the rest of the team, giving a wary Felix a very distasteful glare.

'Did you want me to catch something?' She asked, her voice cold and distant.

'Er…not now. Why not just fly around. Do a few tricks, if you know how.'

Sylvia nodded and took off. She really did enjoy flying if it didn't involve trying to escape someone or something. She weaved through the goal loops, and did a few spinning dives for the fun of it, before pushing the broom to absolute fastest. The wind whipped in her face, her hair flew out behind her, and the frown on her face smoothed out into a neutral form.

She was just pulling out of her race with the wind, when a small ball shot past her. She pulled away from it reflexively. Then, she realized that she was probably suppose to catch it. She glanced around for it. There is was. A small white ball. She zoomed after it. It went through the loops, down vertical drops, spinning around the stands… Sylvia urged the broom forwards as she watched the white ball dart around like a fly. It suddenly dropped downwards. Sylvia went down vertically after it, spinning as she dived and caught it just as she was about to collide with the ground. She jerked the broom up, but it was too late. The end of the broom scratched the group, unbalancing her, and she hit the ground hard.

'Sylvia?' Voices called. Sylvia opened her eyes groggily. Everything was out of focus. Brown hair and blue-greens swirled around as she tried to identify the person in front of her. Someone touched her arm. She lashed out without thinking about it, shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Someone was after her. The ministry was almost there. She could hear them. She had to _move…_

She jerked herself up and took off. But everything started to spin and she didn't know where she was running, or what part of London she was in… What was this place? She thought as everything twirled in circles and then went black.


	9. Chapter Seven

_Mr. Frost:_

_I received your letter. Unfortunately, Kyle Lioness was not a very sociable man. He kept mostly to himself and family. Thus, I do not know much about his work nor himself. As far as I observed over the years of working around him, I noticed he had a favourite assistant by the name of Caleb . I'm afraid his last name was unknown, as he was a rather private fellow. I will attempt to find and contact him for you. _

_I'm sorry I could not be of more use,_

_Sincerely_

_Norman Yiluen_

Edward shared the letter with the rest of the Cult directly after breakfast.. Disappointment ran throughout the group. Now they had to depend on this scientist guy, to find this disappearing street-boy? Great. All hope was lost.

'At least we tried.' Edward shrugged, trying to conceal his major disappointment..

'Yeah. And your letter was great.. I'm sure he'll get this other guy.' Kayla put an admiring smile on.

'Good morning.' A voice cold with rage called out. The whole group was shocked as they turned towards the new comer. Sylvia Lioness.

'I'm flattered by how far you're willing to go in order to find out about me.' She sauntered forward, like a predator hunting its prey.

'It's sad, though, that you'll never find Caleb.'

'Why not?' Kayla called out aggressively.

'Because Caleb isn't summoned. He goes where he wishes when he wishes. No one will change that in him. Instead, he must be asked politely and allowed to make his own decision. Oh. And since you're so determined to know about my past… don't try to get the information by letter. Have Caleb come _here_ because the story is a long one. Too long to be written down properly in a letter.'

She turned and began walking off.

'Why are you telling us how to get the information?'

A mirthless laugh echoed back to them, as she spun around.

'Need I remind you of the clue I accidentally dropped simply because I wasn't going to lie? Do I really need to remind you what I said?

_No one alive knows…. Yet one remembers. _

Don't you get it? _No one alive_.'

'So he's dead?' Oliver asked.

'Consider it a warning.' Sylvia left.

Weeks passed. There was no news from the Yiluen or Caleb. The Cult left Sylvia to herself, not wanting to push her any farther. November 16th, the first Quidditch game was fast approaching. Sylvia had been silent throughout all of the practice session. So much so that no one even attempted to talk to her anymore. She didn't need much guidance. Her reflexes and instinct served her well as she flew after enchanted objects. Fingers were crossed that Gryffindor would beat Slytherin. Almost every conversation consisted of something associated with the match. Some people even attempted to talk to Sylvia again, in the hope of getting her in a better cheer and more determined to win. No tactics worked.

November 16th alas. Sylvia woke up early in the morning, She took deep breaths as she stared at the ceiling, calming herself down so as to decrease the pressure of all the living things around her. Even when everyone was sleeping, it was hard to deal with the pulsating feeling. Sylvia didn't even want to think about what it would be like in the Quidditch field when everyone would be high on excitement.. She hoped she'd be able to handle it.

Sylvia swung herself off the bed, and froze when a crinkling sound followed. He eyes swept the room. There, on the foot of her bed were two packages. Sylvia was stunned. Who would know it was her birthday today? Scorpius, perhaps, but he would never be nice enough to send her a present. And she was certain that if Astoria and Draco Malfoy sent her a present (which she doubted), that they would probably send it as one package.

She approached the packages cautiously. They were both medium-sized. One was wrapped in swirly green paper. The other package was wrapped in night-sky paper, the stars twinkling realistically.

Sylvia reached for it and ripped through the paper with a swift, deft movement of her finger. Inside was a leather-bound book. A piece of parchment lay on top of the book.

'Happy 14th. Found in Kyle's stuff.'

The handwriting wasn't familiar to Sylvia. She disintegrated the parchment, and looked at the book. She opened it, and there on the first page was her mother's face smiling up at her, pushing a lock of hair out of her face.

Sylvia choked and slammed the book shut, her eyes watering. She put the book aside and picked up the second present. She was surprised to see if came from the Malfoys.

'Happy Birthday Sylvia.' They had written. There was a box of Bott's Ever Flavour Beans. She opened the box of beans and sniffed them cautiously. She'd gotten a few bad flavours before. It smelled like roses. She sank her teeth into one, barely tasting it. It was some kind of flower taste. It wasn't too bad, so she took a handful, stuffed the box into her bag, wrote a quick polite thank you to the Malfoys and sent it off with Conquest.

'See you tomorrow.' She told him, and he took off with a farewell hoot. She sat on her bed, revelling. It was her first birthday that she'd ever gotten presents. It felt nice, she decided.


	10. Chapter Eight

Sylvia nearly doubled over from the pressure. She gasped as the huge, pulsating feeling throbbed like a heart beat throughout her body. _Breathe. Breathe._ She thought to herself. She took a long deep breath, focusing on getting oxygen to her body.

'Sylvia?' A voice asked cautiously.

'Go away.' she moaned

'Are you okay?' The voice continued. Sylvia glanced at the speaker. It was Albus Potter. He was pushing his hair nervously out of his face as he watched.

'I said go away.' She told him again. Albus tugged at the sleeve of his Quidditch clothes. The Gryffindor symbol, a lion, was stitched like a badge onto the chest of the scarlet and gold uniform.

'Edward was wondering if you were feeling sick or something. And if you could fly…'

'I'm not going to ditch! I'll be fine. Just _leave me alone!_' She snapped, fighting furiously to ignore the pressure.

'O…Err…Sure.' He retreated. Sylvia sighed. She hadn't meant to get mad at him. It wasn't his fault.

A voice suddenly echoed through the castle grounds, 'Good morning and welcome to Hogwarts' 2024 Quidditch Game!'

Deafening cheers. Sylvia's body convulsed sharply. She gritted her teeth and focused as best as she could on trying to listen to the announcer.

'This year we have a few new players on both teams. Starting with Slytherin, we have the captain and Keeper Conner Powell.' - cheers erupted from the audience - 'Beaters Peter Markson and Walter Goyle. Chasers Riker Shannon, Travis Walker, and Ian Dravu. And Seeker Scorpius Malfoy.'

Cheers were echoing everywhere, and Sylvia's body was very near convulsing again. She curled her hands fists and tried to breathe steadily.

'On the Gryffindor team, we have Captain and Chaser Edward Frost along with the other chasers, Oliver Frost and Albus Potter. Gryffindor Beaters consists of Teddy Lupin and James Potter. And the Seeker of this team is the infamous Sylvia Lioness.'

Sylvia smirked at the word 'infamous.' She got on the broom, and flew out slowly. Her broom looked a whole lot worse than it was, and she figured if she looked horrible, no one would worry about her. She made her way into the air, purposely swerving as she went.

'Blimey! Who ever thought to put her on a broomstick?' The announcer called out. Sylvia looked at him. It was Ethan Creen, a popular Ravenclaw boy in his 6th year. Sylvia smirked and allowed her broom to spin slightly, looking like it was completely out of her control.

'Anybody got a stretcher?' Ethan called out. Laughter floated to Sylvia's ears.

Then, a whistle blew and the game began. Sylvia saw the Snitch being released. It sped off in a blink of an eye, but instead of following it, Sylvia watched Scorpius. He was looking around, watching the game below at times. And at other times smirking at herself, his green and silver outfit flashing in the sunlight.

One time, he flew up to her, 'Think you can manage to stay on?'

'Oh. I suppose so. I did tell them I was horrible at flying…'

Scorpius smirked and flew off. Idiot, Sylvia thought..

'…Frost has the Quaffle, avoid that Bludger! And Quaffle's off to Potter. There we go! And Albus Potter scores! 60 to 40, Gryffindor in the lead!…'

Roars from the audience. Everyone except Slytherin seemed to be applauding and cheering. Sylvia was much more comfortable high above the crowd, where the immense pressure was not close and immediate. It was like feeling it through glass, now. Much easier to focus on finding the Snitch… _the Snitch!_

'There goes Malfoy! Looks like he's after the Snitch!' She heard Ethan call out. And yes, there was Scorpius speeding away on his Nimbus 2000-something, trying to catch the snitch.

Luckily, Sylvia had an advantage. Since she was so high up, she could see the Snitch was arching to the left. So if she went straight down…. She plummeted.

Sylvia spiral-dived like she had at the try outs, going as fast as she possibly could.

'Bloody hell-look at her go.. Ow!' Ethan cried out, getting smacked on the cheek for his language.

The whole crowd had gone silent, holding its breath as one. were silently cheering Scorpius; all the others were hoping Sylvia would make it. The nervousness vibrated through Sylvia's skull as she got closer and closer to the Snitch.

'Try and stay on, Scorpius….' She whispered as she grabbed the darting Snitch, and jerked the broom upward, spinning back into the sky.

Scorpius wasn't able to. The surprise of Sylvia's flying abilities nearly had him paralysed and he went straight into the crowd.

'Gryiffindor gets the Snitch! Gryfindor wins 215 points to 60!' Ethan called out, his voice just barely heard over the pandemonium..

It was too much. Sylvia could feel it so strong it was agony. She flew down and stumbled off the broomstick. Her body convulsed like crazy, her lungs dragged in oxygen, not able to get enough.

It was like her father's experiments all over again. It hurt like fire. It burned. It stung…. She screamed. She fell, thrashing and screaming and sobbing at the top of her lungs.

'Let me go! It hurts! Help! Don't! Stop, please!' She screamed, as the electrical shocks coursed through her. She thrashed in the embrace of the metal machine. Tears stained her young cheeks….

'Stop! Just stop it!" Her voice reached a high pitch of screams and sobs.

'Shut up! Will you? It's over. Shut up!' Hands grasped her shoulders and shook her roughly.

Sylvia started. Her eyes flew open. She was in a room with beds. Lots of beds, each with a nightstand next to it. But these beds were different. They weren't a comforting type. Instead, they were steel-framed, with pale green sheets. The hospital room.

'Young man. Visiting hours are over. She will be release tomorrow if all is well. You may see her then.' A thin, soft-faced woman in her late forties came in. Sylvia looked up at the person touching her. She sucked in a sharp breath.

'Caleb.!' She hissed, and thrashed to release his hold on her.

'See you tomorrow…' He said, his dark red eyes fixed on her hazel ones. He released her and exited the room.


	11. Chapter Nine

Sylvia shuddered. He was exactly as she remembered him. The high cheekbones, the dark red eyes, the black hair cut at just the borderline of being long. The muscled body of a fierce fighter. Not a thing had changed, and Sylvia feared his personality would have remained the same as well.

Early the next morning, she was released from the hospital. She had been given leave from her classes for the day, dur to her continuing 'recovery.' Sylvia knew she was a fit as could be, but didn't argue. She didn't want to be stuck in class when Caleb was running free on the school grounds.

He was flawless at hiding. So, instead of searching for him, Sylvia took the picture book she' gotten for her birthday, and went down by the lake.

She opened it to the first page and stared at her mother's face. She silky brown hair, the soft brown eyes, and beautiful smile. It all seemed to stab at Sylvia's chest. Tears flowed down her face silently, as she thought of how her mother had died.

Two words and she was on the ground, never to move again. Sylvia wiped off the tears and turned the page. It was her father. He wasn't smiling. He was leaning over a cauldron in his laboratory. Silvery blue vapours rose from the mixture as she stirred. His laboratory had been his life.

Experiments, and potions, and spells… that was all he ever cared about. Sylvia suddenly felt sick at the thought of him, and turned the page. It was another picture of her mother. This time, with a baby girl in her arms. Sylvia.

Sylvia's heart stopped. Her throat clogged up, and her eyes watered. Here, her mother had loved her. Before she's grown up into a monster. Before everything she never wanted to happen occurred. When she was just Primrose's baby girl. Her child and love.

'I see you like your present.' Sylvia snapped the book shut, and spun around.

'You sent it?' Her eyes widened.

'Of course. Who else do you think would go back to that retched place?' Caleb asked, shredding a leave to pieces as he walked forward.

'How did you know it was my birthday?'

'After knowing you for 8 years you think I didn't know what day your birthday was on? You were like a little sister.'

'Oh yeah I suppose that's why you helped Kyle.'

A spasm of pain flashed across Caleb's handsome face.

'I didn't want to do it. He told me it was fine. I was young and idiotic. You're not still holding _that_ against me, are you?' He reached forward and touched her chin. She jerked her face out of his grasp.

'Don't you _dare_ touch me. Trust is not given. Especially when you've lost it.' She spat at him.

'You've changed.' He said, surprised.

'Of course I changed! Did you really expect a young, innocent, young girl, Caleb? After all that Kyle put me through? And then when him and Primrose died?' She choked on her mother's name, 'I had to hide from the Ministry for years. It changes you, Caleb.'

They walked over to the edge of the lake, and sat down.

Caleb kicked his high tops off as he let his feet just barely touch the water. Sylvia just sat and watched the lapping ripples from the wind.

'And so you're mad at the world. Afraid of everyone? Don't you trust anything? Anything at all?'

'No. Every time I gave my trust, it was destroyed. _Destroyed!_ Unfortunately I have to trust you.'

'Why's that?'

'You know why. Norman contacted you, didn't he? He told you that some teen want to know about my past? What I've been through?'

'Actually, he didn't tell me that. He said that you wanted me.'

'Me?! Why would I want you?'

'I was surprised, but I figured it had something to do with your parents or something, so I came. And here I am and it turns out Norman lied to me. So what is it that I'm here for again?'

'Four teens. Edward and Oliver Frost, Kayla Sebastian, and Felix Divinity-I call them the Cult- they're determined to know about what I've done, who I was and all that. I won't tell them, so they wanted you so they could get their answers.'

'Oh. Wow. That'll be fun… going through it all. From my point of view.'

'I figured you'd tell them.' Sylvia said, pushing her right sleeve up, tracing her wrist vein calmly.

'Well if I'm going to have the name, I might as well play the game.' Caleb said, smirking.

'And you wanted my trust…' Sylvia shook her head in disgust.

'You mean I can earn your trust if I don't?' Caleb said, watching her.

'Yes. But I figured that wouldn't be enough. So I'll add something else too.'

'What?'

'What do you think, Caleb?' He watched her, tracing her wrist vein with a finger. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and his red eyes widened in response as the realization hit him.


	12. Chapter Ten

'Would you really be willing to risk it?' Caleb asked.

Sylvia pulled his sleeve so that he turned to look at her.

'If you tell them what happened to me., I'd be better off dead. It's the past. It's over. _End of story,_ Caleb. Don't tell me you can't see that!'

'I understand. Don't worry. I get it..' He said, turning away from her burning eyes quickly.

'Good.' She held out her wrist. He looked at her warily, before taking her hand gently in his.

Sylvia tensed her self as Caleb's fangs extended, contorting his face into that of a monster.

'_Silencio.'_ Sylvia muttered the charm over herself, and then Caleb bit. Sylvia clenched her teeth, and squeezed her eyes shut tight. She controlled the urge to wrench her arm away, and to fight. This is what she agreed on. She had to. Her muscles quivered, and she shook her head like she was hallucinating, trying to shake the pain out.

'You have very nice blood.' Caleb said when he was done.

'How nice.' Sylvia said dryly, and she placed her fingers of the wound, muttering a healing spell. The skin healed over, and she was left with a faint scar.

'So, what's new with you?' Caleb asked.

They were walking among the trees on the rim of the Forbidden Forest.

'Since when? Since I last saw you? A lot. Since I came to Hogwarts? A lot.'

Caleb smiled, amused with her response.

'How about you start with anything supernatural that's happened. The rest, I think I could figure out…'

'Oh well. Nothing new there.' He glanced at her, a quick see-through glance.

'You're lying.' He said.

'What makes you think that?'

'Your eyes go blank. You hide all your emotions too well.'

'Why would I tell you?' She snapped, irritated that he saw through her lie.

'Because I'm your friend.'

'My friend? You were a traitor, Caleb. Remember when I was 6 and I told you all my secrets? Where I hid, what I did to stop the pain? Remember that? And you stood there, pretending to be my _friend_, and the second my back was turned you went and told Kyle! That was my security and you tore it down! How can you expect me to be your friend again? Give me one reason why I should trust you!'

'I have two, actually. First is that I'm sorry and I feel in debt to you. I want to release myself from that debt. Second it this.' He lifted her arm, and revealed the new scar on her wrist.

'Consider it a blood oath.' He told her, 'You're friends are coming. Want to introduce me?'

'Better soon than later.' Sylvia said, taking a deep breath.

'Sylvia! Hi! You did great! That dive was amazing… how are you? You collapsed on the field. We heard you got discharged… Who's this?'

Sylvia gritted her teeth, 'This is the Caleb you sent for.'

The silence was deafening. The whole Cult had frozen in surprise and shock.

'Hello. Nice to meet you.' Caleb grinned, his red eyes making them all cringe under his stare.

'So… can you tell us about Sylvia? We were wondering about her past, and she seems willing…' They all glanced at Sylvia, and then back at Caleb.

'Oh. That's funny, I got a different impression…' Caleb pretended to be confused, 'Sylvia? Did you want to relive the whole wretched past again?'

Sylvia muttered softly, her eyes fixated on a button on Oliver's jacket.

'Sorry? I couldn't hear you, darling.' Caleb smirked.

Sylvia snapped out of her trance-like state in a second.

'Did you just call me _darling?_'' She demanded of Caleb.

'Of course not. I asked if I could tell them about your past..'

'No! You made a blood-oath. No compromises. No breaking it, or else…' Sylvia glared into his eyes.

Caleb turned back to the group, 'Sorry, but it seems she's not willing, so you'll have to do without.. While I'm here though, do you think they're a place I could stay?'

'_I_ will deal with that.' Sylvia said firmly, turning Caleb around and pushing him back towards the lake.'

'Is he what I think he is?' Oliver said.

'Depends. What do you think he is?'

'Human. But that doesn't make sense, because she said that no one alive knew…'

'That is what it seems like, isn't it?' Kayla said, staring after the two disappearing figures.


	13. Chapter Eleven

Christmas was fast approaching. There were three days until Christmas break. The talk of the school was who was going with who to the Ball. Scorpius was sitting in the Great Hall, watching the Gryffindor table, as he picked at his toast.

'Scorpius!' A voice called. He looked at the speaker, it was Christine Evon. Her blue eyes watched him intently as he turned his attention towards her.

'What?' He asked, irritably, glancing at the Gryffindor table again.

'Who are you taking t the Ball?'

'I haven't asked anyone yet.' He said.

'Well, who you going to ask?'

Scorpius glanced at the Gryffindor table again. Christine followed his gaze. He was watching Sylvia, who was sitting at the edge of the table eating eggs. She was tense, trembling slightly, and keeping to herself.

'Are you going to ask her?' Christine's voice broke his concentration.

'What?'

Christine let out an exasperated breath.

'Are you going to ask Lioness?'

'Probably not. Considering, she's basically my sister…'

A snort of indignation followed his words. Scorpius twisted towards Trace, who was sitting on his right side.

'What?' He demanded. Trace recoiled slightly.

'It's just…you and her never seem to act like brother and sister.' Trace stumbled over his words.

Scorpius didn't respond, he just turned back to watching Sylvia.

'Why are you watching her? What's so interesting about her?'

'Did you realize how tense she is? Look at everybody else—they're fine. There's three days left before our week off… everybody's relaxed. So why is she so tense?'

'I heard she loves studying. Maybe she's worried she can't study enough with everybody off for the holiday.' Goyle snickered. A few others joined it. Scorpius didn't hear.

_Don't you dare ask._ Sylvia's voice echoed through his head. His eyes widened. What the hell had that been? He glanced around himself quickly. No one there. He looked back to Sylvia. She was gone. _Damn_, he thought.

Sylvia had a whole lot better hearing than anybody would've thought. All of her senses were more refined than a normal wizard's or witch's.

She found it amusing, however, that Scorpius didn't know who he was going to invite to the Christmas Ball. She'd have expected him to be the first to know. Exactly which fancy Pureblood he wanted to be seen with.

'Morning.' A familiar voice called out.

'Morning.' She responded, 'When are you leaving?'

'Not today.' Caleb laughed as he walked up to her, snatching her hand and kissing it softly as he looked into her eyes.

'Bastard.' She jerked her hand out of his. He laughed.

'You always were feisty, but tell me: when did you get so much _more_ irritable and feisty?'

'I didn't get _feisty_. I got more _alert_, _observant, psychological._'

'Psychological, hu? How so?'

'I had to figure out how people thought in order to avoid them, to know what they would do and how to escape.'

'Interesting.'

'So, when are you going to leave?'

'I thought I could take you to the Ball, and then go from there.'

'No.' She said sharply. She could just imagine the massacre he could cause.

'Why not?'

'In a room of hundreds of students? No.' She threw him a glance that killed all his protests.

'Oh. Well then, I suppose I'm not wanted, so I'll leave tomorrow…' He said, his voice dripping with disappointment.

'Glad you finally got the idea.' Sylvia didn't fall for the trick, 'Have a nice trip back.' She gave him a purposely false smile, and left. Caleb fumed, wondering why he just ruined his possibility of taking her to the Ball.


End file.
